Unknown Brilliance
by Twilight and Silence
Summary: A monologue from the POV of a very little known character. . . . who contemplates death and her life. The first in a series of monologues from characters little mentioned in books. . .


_Brilliance_

  
  
  
  
  
  


The trees loom up around me, like welcoming old friends. Indeed, they are old comrades for me. . .and I do not exaggerate when I say "old". I use that word in its truest sense. . . the meaning of the word "ancient" is a very familiar one to me. However, my mind wanders . . .where was I? Oh, yes. Old friends. . . when I taught at Hogwarts many (ye gods- _Many_!) years ago, I wandered often in this stretch of bush. . . the dear outskirts of the Forbidden Forest . . . that has held the tantalizing lure of forbidden fruit to students for generations. . .although, there _was_ a time when it was not so forbidden as it is now. . . there was a time . . . . was a time. . . . a time. . . time. . 

  
  


The wind brushes against my face, moving the strands of my grey hair along my neck. The leaves make my arms tingle as they brush me and above, the colourful birds flit from branch to branch, twittering happily and noisily. The sunlight creates a stunning sight. . . shining through the leaves to create a green, glowing splendour. Once, I vaguely recall, the sense of these things would have thrilled me to the core of my once romantic soul, but now it has long ceased to cause anything besides a gentle uplifting of spirits. . .all that I have felt in a long time. A gentle uplifting of spirits. . .or a slight dampening of them . . .rise and fall. . . like the chest of a breathing sleeper. However, a very pretty section of the forbidden forest this is . .. 

  
  


I come face to face with an enormous old tree in the centre of a clearing . .. The kings of trees. . .it must be six hundred years at least. A memory flitters across my mind:

  
  


_Two teenagers, wearing long black robes. . . Their arms entwined about each other. . a couple, deeply in love. "My Perenelle, take heed!" the boy cries, with good reason, for the girl's robes were caught on the branch of a young sapling . . . _

  
  


I close my eyes. Somehow, I _know_ these two young people have great importance to me, but I am at loss to remember how. The memory is gone .. . and the identities as well, crowded out in the vast store of remembrances my mind holds . . .far too many then the human mind was ever intended to hold . Each moment of time in your life becomes a memory. . . but when time has flowed for too long, it becomes impossible to retain most of them . . . even the most important. 

  
  


Time. How I would detest that word. . .if it were possible . . . but nothing ever is. Some fools say that anything in this life is possible. . . to change, and yet stay the same. . . poor shortlived fools. But, if anything was possible, therefore isn't it possible to be impossible? Dear old logic. 

  
  


The Hogwarts towers are visible over the treetops. . .Hogwarts. I know every brick to its walls. . .I taught there for centuries. . . none know it better than I, not even Dumbledore. . . 

  
  


Dumbledore. His name brings me back to the news he just broke to us. . . astounding news. News of_ change._ Change. Once. . .once. . .it was a consistent in my life. . .things were always changing, flowing in happiness or tears. But that was once. . and it was so long ago that it might as well of happened to a different person . . .I was once fiery and independent Perenelle Flamel .. .once. Once. Once upon a time . .. I was Perenelle Flamel, one of the most well known teachers of Hogwarts. . .wife of that genius of wizards, Nicholas Flamel. That couple, so it was said, whose love would last all time. . . and maybe it has. But, love is too strong an emotion for me to feel any long. . . gentle affection is more likely now. Yes, once upon a time, that was I. But. . . once upon a time. . . "Once upon a time" is the word they use for fairy tales .. .not reality. Yet, _is_ this reality? This vegetative state I have lived in for so long?

  
  


I feel . . .I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. . . now. I fled to this bush to recover from this new idea thrown at me .. .the first new idea in such a long time. 

  
  


And what an amazing, wonderful, brilliant, _new_ idea! Death! How I welcome it. . . for I now realize I have longed for change. . . for the past few centuries. . .Nick and I have given up living. We have just been vegetating .. . studying and learning here and there. . .but everything ceases to matter. All emotions had become unimportant. . .all people, merely leaves in the wind, flicking by you for a brief second. 

  
  


And now! All the emotions, the great passions of life, hit me like a blast of wind, as if I stepped out from a tomb into a windy day. . . I get to die! I get to die! I want to dance! To sing! Finally, the one final change! One final wonderful adventure. . .

  
  


It should've never been made. That is one lesson I have learned from life. People die, when they die for a reason. To try and live forever is a mistake .. . It can be summarised in one word, boredom. Voldemort. . . that's the name of the dark wizard who's trying to take power now. Will these Dark wizards _never_ learn? I've seen dozens come and go in my time. And none of them ever succeed. . .what makes the next one think that he will? Well, this Voldemort wants to live forever .. . poor pitiful fool. If he ever succeeds, I pity him. 

  
  


Nick is back there, talking to Dumbledore. Oh, how I love him . . dear, dearest Nick. The branches of these centuries old trees close in among me. . . How beautiful the woods are. Cool and green . .. Amazing. There are old friends. . . but yet another old friend awaits me. . . and I shall run to him. He is Death, who I hid from for so many years. . . And what an adventure. . what an adventure. . . . An adventure. . . one that my souls longs to take. . . and any time now I shall. 

  
  


_A few hours later, the body of Perenelle Flamel was discovered in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Her husband, Nicholas Flamel, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. She was found leaning against a 600 year old oak tree_. 

  
  


"To a well organized soul, death is just the next great adventure."


End file.
